The number is staggering.

Officials announced at Friday's Penn State Board of Trustees meeting that 37 rapes, sexual assaults and indecent assaults occurred last semester alone -- 29 of them off-campus.

Among the most repeated calls to stop this startling trend is to install more lighting in the dark areas downtown, particularly in some of the areas where assaults occurred.

To the relief of many, the Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization recently announced a plan to bring dozens of additional streetlights to East Beaver Avenue, from Hetzel to High streets, and Atherton Street, between Park and West Beaver avenues.

The plan, several have said, is mostly due to the large number of people that travel through these areas. It is also a security measure.

This is a conscientious first step by those involved, although it is a difficult one -- no matter how simple the plan may sound. Money isn't something easily scraped up, and funding for the street light project is no exception.

Public works director Mark Whitfield said the State College borough has $472,000 lined up for the project, but additional funding will be needed.

This is where Penn State should have stepped in by now.

The Undergraduate Student Government's executive branch has been pressuring the borough to add lighting, but the time may now come to convince the university to do the same.

If officials say they are worried about assaults, they should do something about it.

Penn State doesn't have to throw millions of dollars at the project, but it should pledge to proactively ensure the security of its students as best it can.

And if that means that students must also share the financial burden, so be it. If extra lighting means one fewer student is raped or assaulted, the money spent is well worth it.

This project is a logical start to what should become a borough-wide initiative. If the borough is successful in installing lighting in the proposed areas, the plan could later be expanded to include better lighting near the darkened fraternity district, south of Beaver Avenue, where many of the sexual assaults have occurred.

The entire community, including Penn State, should throw full support behind this project to prevent the staggering number of assaults and sex offenses downtown from climbing any higher.